I have so many amazing gluten-free recipes to share, but my first priority is to post recipes that cover the basics. Yes, I have been known to attempt to bake gluten-free and healthy, but I’ll admit it, when I dove head-first into the gluten-free world, I wasn’t craving roasted asparagus, or quinoa stuffed mushrooms (even though those are really good and I will eventually share those recipes). I craved baked goods like brownies and cupcakes, and comfort foods like pizza. What about chocolate chip cookies? Did you miss those as much I did when you went gluten-free? The good news is these cookies taste so similar to the ever-popular Toll House chocolate chip cookies, most of my taste testers could not tell they were gluten-free! So, enjoy my latest recipe for Brooke’s Gluten-Free Bites Covers the Basics!

Prepare
Take butter and eggs out of the fridge to warm to room temp. It is important the butter is a room temp and not melted. I keep my whole grain flours in the freezer, so at this point I pull those out too to warm to room temp. Preheat oven to 350°F.

Measure and add all gluten-free flours, starches, gums and salt to a medium-sized bowl. Mix with a whisk and set aside. In stand mixer (or large bowl with a hand mixer), cream butter (trust me room temperature butter works the best!) with the sugars. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix again. If you are as detail oriented as me, you will now sift in half of the flour mix, mix on medium and then sift the other half and mix again. If you are more like my husband you will skip the sifting, dump the flour blend in, stir and be done. I think it makes a difference, but that’s just me. Stir in chocolate chips and try not too eat too many of them in the process (see my confession below the recipe).

I like using a 1 Tbsp scoop to measure a well-rounded amount of dough onto a cookie sheet with a baking mat. You can also use non-stick spray but just make sure it doesn’t contain gluten; for example Pam Baking contains gluten!

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes until cookie turns a nice golden brown.

Tips:
– These may need to be adjusted slightly at different altitudes. If the cookies are too flat and crispy, add a bit of gf flour. Too cakey? Reduce the amount of gf flour. I would recommend altering by 1 Tbsp at a time.

– Need to substitute a flour? Just keep in mind the ratio I used: 40% whole grains to 60% starches (I consider white rice/sweet white rice a starch). Thank you Shauna from glutenfreegirl for teaching me to bake with ratios!

One Bite Brooke’s Chocolate ConfessionI am revealing an embarrassing weakness for chocolate chips (well any form of chocolate really) in the hopes the following tip may help a fellow chocoholic actually finish these cookies without a disproportionately low amount of chocolate chips to cookie dough.

I recommend keeping a minimum of two bags of chocolate chips in your kitchen at all times. Ideally two bags of milk chocolate and 2 bags of semisweet chocolate. I typically start snitching the chocolate chips right about the time I preheat the oven for chocolate chip cookies. Perhaps a normal baker has more self-control and is capable of just eating a few chips from the bag and consequently have just about 10 oz left from your 12 oz bag which is exactly what the recipe calls for. (hmmm, does the Ghirardelli recipe call for 10 oz for just that reason?) But in case you are like me and eating 1 oz of chocolate chips is laughable because you started baking when you were hungry and the chocolate chips were a substitute for lunch, or perhaps dinner, then having a spare bag is essential to successfully finishing the recipe.